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Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has appointed a fully-integrated agency team, led by global marketing and technology agency DigitasLBi, as Shangri-La’s agency of record.

DigitasLBi will lead the relationship with support from advertising agency BBH and media agency ZenithOptimedia.

The integrated team, all part of Publicis Groupe, will work on brand strategy, creative strategy and execution, digital platforms, social media, customer relationship management, and media planning and buying across global markets for the Shangri-La, Hotel Jen, Kerry Hotels and Golden Circle brands. The move to a digitally-focused agency team is aligned with Shangri-La’s data-led marketing approach, which is placing digital front-and-centre, and will drive efficiencies across its marketing and media spend.

“The way consumers connect and engage with brands has and continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Consumers are in a constant state of evaluation and use multiple channels and devices to research and purchase travel,” Shangri-La International Hotel Management’s chief marketing officer Steven Taylor, said.

“Fifty per cent of total travel sales will involve more than one device in 2016 and consumers are spending more time and visiting more sites when researching travel online. Brands today need to be able to look across the entire customer journey in all its complexity, and obtain a holistic view of how consumers connect and be able to respond to ongoing conversations around the brand at a moment’s notice,” said Taylor.

Following Shangri-La’s investment in a new CRM platform last year, the group is in the process of redesigning its entire branded digital presence to deliver a responsive, authentic and personalised guest experience.

DigitasLBi’s work for Shangri-La will be underpinned by behavioural data, which will enable Shangri-La to understand what truly matters to its customers and to use these insights to gain competitive advantage.

Prior to consolidating its agency relationship, Shangri-La had been working with multiple agencies. DigitasLBi was retained last year to develop and execute the fifth anniversary campaign for Golden Circle, the loyalty programme for the Shangri-La family of brands.

“We loved DigitasLBi’s creative solution and were impressed by their deep understanding of our audience. The ‘Loyalty Is’ Golden Circle campaign fostered a global conversation about loyalty and what true loyalty means to our guests and our employees,” said Taylor. “With their global scale and integrated approach, we felt DigitasLBi was the ideal partner to build customer engagement and loyalty as we bring our brand promise to life across every part of the guest experience,” Taylor, said.

“This fully-integrated agency team model reflects Publicis Groupe’s continued drive to break down agency silos in order to create more effective partnerships with clients,” said DigitasLBi Global client service director Laurent Ezekiel.

Publicis Groupe has made big moves to consolidate multiple agency brands in order to streamline and integrate its offerings to clients.